Monterey Jack Cheese minus the "Jack Cheese"

This past weekend we packed up the car and drove almost 55 minutes from our house down to the city of Monterey to meet the Winklers for a lovely little getaway on the shore. When we arrived it was a nice sunny day. The ocean was blue and salty. Here is a picture of it: Claire is walking now, so she took us on a guided tour of the "da" and the "bah la ooh". I learned interesting names for plants like the "ah ma ah". Somehow I don't think she really knew what she was talking about. But as nice parents, we just clapped and led her to believe everything worked correctly.

Later she sat on a rock and looked out at the ocean. She said she saw a "da ma da". In this picture you'll see Sarah trying to find the "da ma da".

There is a trail that runs along the ocean. We ran along it wearing our invisible cloaks and took this picture. Sarah doesn't actually sweat that much, she just got out of the ocean.

We also went to the Monterey Bay Acquarium. In addition to big fish, sharks, octopus, seals, and other cool water dwellers, they also have a couple of really nice rooms for young kids. Here Claire and Sophia are sitting in an "underwater" cave playing with some stuffed fish.

Here they are playing in the water with the fish.

Claire and Sarah rode on some kind of fish. In the background there is a girl trying to figure out what it means to "Pretend you're a coral"

At the Acquarium, Claire got to check out some bat rays up close and personal.

Look at all the kids!

We woke up yesterday and thought -- "hey it's such a nice day, let's go to the zoo!" Upon arriving at the Oakland zoo it was apparent to us that everyone AND their mommas had had the same thought. You wouldn't believe how packed it was! I was pointing to animals to show Claire, and she would then point at the kids around us instead. She was right afterall, the kids were WAY more active and exciting to watch than the lazy, overfed animals in their cages. However, Claire did pay attention to the big animals like the giraffes, elephants, and zebras, and anything that moved (spider monkeys, meerkats and surprisingly the warthogs were running around too). We met our friends Steve, Victoria, and Sophia there which was a treat!

It is very difficult to get a photo of these gals where both of them are looking at the camera!

Claire and Daddy went through this tunnel to get a closer look at the meerkats:

Daddy had to stoop a little bit, but Claire was just the right height.

More than likely she is pointing at all the dirt, not the elephants.

Getting Wild at Wilder Ranch State Park

We ventured out to the coast this weekend since it was nice and sunny, but you'll notice in these photos we're still bundled up due to the wind. We hiked in Wilder Ranch State Park, picnicked on a beach, then went on a few kiddie rides on the boardwalk.

Daddy tried to take a nap on the beach, and Claire quickly took advantage of this and tried to crawl away.

Luckily, Mommy was awake and was able to stop her before she went into the raging ocean.

Along the hike, there was a large chunk of land missing. It created a nice horseshoe looking cove that was pretty. Because of this, we took a picture.

Later we found another smaller chunk of land that had fallen into the ocean. It was roped off, but that didn't stop us from getting a picture of it.

As we were hiking, a young woman thought it would be nice to take a picture of the "two of us". As she was taking the picture Daddy turned sideways and she was amazed to find, that there were actually three of us.

Once the hike was over, we headed to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk which actually has no more boards, just cement. During the late 80's they did some pretty extensive renovations and found it less expensive to maintain cement, but for the curious tourist, you can still observe some of the original boardwalk boards in an airtight glass case near the ticket booths for the rides.

Anyway, Claire enjoyed going on rides with both mamamama and dat (that's how Claire says our names).

Then we all played skeeball. Dat was arrogant and thought he would cleanup, but it turns out Mamamama has a secret past as a professional skeeballer, rolling two games in the mid 300's. You can see from the board above Mamamama's head, that 350 is a pretty darn good score. Claire also played too, but she got 0. Dat's score was somewhere in between the two of them.

Although Claire scored a 0, she was quite good at taking the coupons as they came out of the machines. And she was even able to keep up with all the tickets coming out when Mamamama was rolling her balls of fire.Claire and Mamamama also got to ride on the trucks. We debated about it for a while, but we were pretty sure that Pepsi was sponsoring the ride.

Claire was so tired she didn't mind sleeping with a puppy wrapped around her head the whole way home.

Until next weekend, or until Claire does something exciting again, toodles and good luck with all of your ventures, especially if you are a venture capitalist. And if you just like going on adventures, we hope you capitalize on your adventures even when your venture to Ventura.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Grandma Becky got Claire a story called Chicka Chicka ABC, and it is one of her favorites (and it's fun for us to read too). Here's a video of story time after Claire's nightly bath. She demonstrates her latest dance move -- a side to side twisting of her upper body.

Choo choo!

The highlight of the day was taking Claire on the commuter train for the first time. We rode it up to Sunnyvale so she could visit both my workplace and Brian's. The train was a hit! Claire made alot of excited noises, to the point that I was glad we were alone in the train car. I love these kind of simple excursions. She makes the mundane seem so delightful!

If she looks a little tired around the eyes, it's because she's still recovering from allergies. On Monday she woke up with swollen, pink eyelids. They're much better now but not 100%. We think it's from the weekend, when she picked alot of flowers and possible rubbed her eyes. Poor girl!

Looking in all the wrong places

Brian and I have been inspecting Claire's top gums almost daily, waiting for all those teeth to start coming in. Yesterday, we discovered that she has a new tooth on the bottom! We thought the two top front teeth would be next, but Claire surprised us. So, that makes 3 teeth. We probably have a long way to go before she goes to the dentist.

Here's what she's up to

Still has a shoe fetish.
Loves her fisher price farm playset.

"You weren't supposed to see me pull out all that toilet paper!"

Tasting an early strawberry in our patch.

Ready for any hair styling challenge -- comb and brush in hand.

Ravioli sauce facial treatment.

Taking steps with a balloon.

Signs of Spring

I know I shouldn't be getting spring fever seeing as how there's no snowy cold winter here, but nonetheless I'm excited to see the results from all the rain we've been getting. Blossoms are abundant in our gardens, and that means we're getting closer to being able to play outside with Claire again! I'm a bit taken aback at how well the garden has done after a year of solid neglect. Even my little succulents have not perished.

Lately every morning is filled with the chirping of goldfinches in our plum tree.

Powered by cheese

Claire started taking steps all by herself last Sunday! She hasn't done it very often since then, so this is extra-special that we caught her on video tonight:

In case you're wondering, she's carrying a mixing bowl lid and a toy cheese slice. She's recently started mimicking a little of what we do and say. Maybe she's pretending to have food on a plate?

Baby in paradise

We're back from Maui! It was a lovely four days spent with Brian's parents, and we definitely wish the trip had been longer. We discovered that it gets considerably harder to fly with a toddler than with an infant, but it was still worth it to be able to spend time on the beach! Claire crawled all over the sand, ate a ton of it (much to my dismay), and jumped in the water with Daddy. She enjoyed quality time with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bill, while we went out ziplining, running, and snorkelling. We topped it off with taking Claire to her first luau and feeding her poi, again (she's tried it once before and guess what she still doesn't like it).

We went hiking across suspension bridges to a waterfall:

Here's Claire trying pineapple for the first time, which she loved!

We want to go back!

Dancing Blue Man

Today a little blue man showed up at our doorstep (Thanks David and Leila). He claims that his name is Iggle Piggle and that he has a famous TV show, but we think that he is more than likely a spy coming to steal our best kept family secrets. You know, things like what time Claire goes to bed, how many diapers she wears a day, and how many decibels is her average scream. This type of information in the wrong hands could easily lead to a global meltdown larger than the latest financial crisis. This is why we were glad to see that Claire took matters into her own hands and showed Iggle Piggle whose the boss of the house. See below:

Sharing cheerios

Who knew meal time could get more fun? Claire has started "sharing" her snacks with us.

If you're lucky you get fresh, dry cheerios. Sometimes she offers ones that have been in her mouth already, and then it's a challenge to smile and say thanks as you chew on a soggy "o".

These are for you, Daddy!

I'm at home with Claire, who's come down with hand-foot-mouth disease AND an upper respiratory tract infection so she's not in daycare today for obvious reasons. But looking at these photos, you'd guess that she's just playing "hooky" from daycare, right? Well I'm just that super good with the camera! Claire had one bright moment after her morning nap and I took advantage...whipped out the maracas, stuck in some hair-bands, and turned on some kiddie tunes. She was all smiles for a few minutes, then the snot started again and whining ensued. Ah well. We hope she beats this cold soon, because in the meantime we're not getting much sleep!

The pig-tails stayed in for just the duration of the photo shoot. I had to do it though! Daddy bought these hair-bands many months ago and he's been looking forward to this moment.

I should point out that hand-foot-mouth disease is NOT to be confused with the foot (hoof) and mouth disease that cows get. 1) Claire has not been in contact with any cows except for the stuffed animal and plastic versions, and 2) the animal virus does not spread to humans anyway. We were mistakenly calling her condition foot and mouth disease until the pediatrician yesterday cleared that up for us. Ah, just another chapter in the book of parenting...